• Question: how does vitamins affect your body

    Asked by austintheor1ginalstar to Jemma on 28 May 2012.
    • Photo: Jemma Ransom

      Jemma Ransom answered on 28 May 2012:

      Hi @austintheof1ginalstar, sorry for the delayed reply – I was away over the weekend. Hope you enjoyed the sunshine!

      Great question, vitamins do a lot of things in your body. I’ll tell you first about vitamin A which is what I study.

      Like most other vitamins, we can’t make our own vitamin A so must eat plants and other animals that can. It’s really important during pregnancy for developing embryos. It determines something called body axis patterning – which side is right, and which left. It also helps to generate the pattern by which your brain is made.

      Later on in life it’s really important for maintaining a healthy brain, and could have a role in brain diseases such as Alzheimer’s and other dementias.

      The most important thing I think is the use of vitamin A like products in cancer. With certain types of cancer vitamin A is used alongside chemotherapy and improves survival rates.

      Any other questions? – Please just ask

      Jemma

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